The Guardian: Main section

Thursday 2 February 2006

Front page

Iran's foreign minister yesterday threatened immediate retaliation over a move to refer its nuclear activities to the United Nations security council in comments which deepen his country's confrontation with the international community.

National news p4

A multi-millionaire fund manager who is asking the House of Lords to slash a £5m divorce payout for the ex-wife he allegedly painted as a "spendthrift termagant" is not a vindictive man, his QC insisted yesterday.

National news p6

Britain's train stations have deteriorated into dirty, dangerous, poorly staffed environments because nobody in the privatised rail industry can agree who is responsible for their upkeep, according to a highly critical report by MPs.

National news p7

The prospects for preventing millions of deaths in a flu pandemic have improved with the announcement today by US scientists that they have engineered a vaccine that protects mice from the sort of strains that killed people in Turkey.

Two aircraft believed to be chartered by the CIA and suspected of secretly transporting detainees in a practice known as rendition have passed through British airspace, it was officially confirmed yesterday.

The jury trying the British National party leader, Nick Griffin, on race hatred charges retired to consider its verdict yesterday after 10 days of evidence about secret TV filming of closed party meetings.

National news p14

Scientists have developed an early-warning system for the outbreak of malaria epidemics. They claim that the system, which is based on computer models of climate change, can predict outbreaks up to five months in advance.

At 10.20pm tomorrow three spacesuited figures will emerge from the airlock doors of the International Space Station. One will take hold of a companion and gently push him away so that he floats off into the abyss.

International news p16

Newspapers in France, Germany, Spain and Italy yesterday reprinted caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, escalating a row over freedom of expression that has caused protest across the Middle East. By Luke Harding and Kim Willsher.

International news p17

The chief judge in the trial of Saddam Hussein pushed ahead with the case yesterday, despite the former Iraqi leader, four other defendants and their defence team boycotting the tribunal and demanding the judge's removal.

International news p19

Yesterday colony 14/10 near the far-eastern town of Krasnokamensk became the great leveller for the one-time oil billionaire, when the prison authorities informed Khodorkovsky he would have to sit a sewing exam.

Top stories p20

International news p22

The US supreme court moved a step closer yesterday to taking up its first case on abortion since the appointment of two judges of President George Bush's choosing, after two federal appeals courts ruled that a ban on a termination procedure was unconstitutional.

International news p23

Cries of "marg bar Amrika" (death to America) no longer fill the air, but in the shadow of the Den of Spies - formerly known as the US embassy - echoes of an equally atavistic anti-Americanism still resonate.

After tight timetables and speeding were blamed for a derailment in Japan last year that killed 107 people, a train firm declared yesterday it would slow down and add 21 seconds to its average rush-hour journey time.

Financial p28

Smash Hits, the magazine that postered teenage bedrooms across Britain for nearly 30 years, is to close after its mix of pop lyrics and heart-throb interviews lost its appeal with young readers. By Dan Milmo.

Leaders and replies p34

In our G2 cover story tracking a year in the life of the Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Ian Blair (January 30), we referred to an Argentinian who had allegedly brought a grenade into Gatwick. The reference should have been to a Venezuelan.

Leader: To the long list of altruistic student campaigns down the years - against apartheid, in defence of free speech, anti-war (both Vietnam and Iraq) - and the more self-interested crusades against tuition fees or rent rises, now add another campaign.

Leaders and replies p35

Letters: We Iranian-British academics and anti-war campaigners wish to express our deepest concern about the decision by the UK, France, Germany, US, Russia and China to report Iran to the UN security council.

Letters: The reason I don't play Tunng, Adem, Circulus and others on my Radio 2 programme (Songs of experience, January 30; Letters, February 1) is, first, that in order for me to play something, I actually have to have heard it and among the 30 to 40 CDs I listen to every week, there has so far not been so much as a squeak from any of those "folk" performers mentioned.